Notre Dame and Villanova will tip off the 2026-27 college basketball season nearly 4,500 miles from their home campuses, with the two schools’ men’s and women’s teams meeting in Rome on Nov. 1 in an international doubleheader billed as the “Eternal City Tip-Off.” The event will also feature an audience with Pope Leo, a Villanova grad and big sports fan.
Read MoreThe U.S. recently completed its military withdrawal from Iraq after a 12-year mission against ISIS. Iraq is more stable but remains shaped by powerful Shia parties, Iranian influence, armed militias, Sunni political recovery, Kurdish autonomy and lingering ISIS activity — raising questions about the country’s future.
Read More(TRAVEL) We Bangaloreans are just a stone’s throw away from a place of worship. And if one threw a stone, chances are it would probably land on one of the beautiful, iconic places of worship in Bangalore. Or perhaps the stone might get stuck in one of the many traffic jams.
Read MoreAn anti-Islam rally promoted as a “Christian Crusader March” drew hundreds of demonstrators and counterdemonstrators to this majority Arab American city of Dearborn, Michigan. A few participants carried assault rifles as police in riot gear patrolled. The Sunday after the recent protest, minister Wayne Beason felt compelled to speak up for his Muslim neighbors.
Read MoreOn the 25th anniversary of 9/11 last month, Weekend Plug-in columnist Bobby Ross Jr. found myself in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michgan. He came to work on a story related to America’s ongoing war over words over Muslims and their place in U.S. society. While coincidental, the timing struck Ross as ironic.
Read MorePuppies in the pews? Churches worldwide are gearing up to celebrate St. Francis, patron saint of animals, by inviting pets, including goats, cats, tortoises and more into their buildings to receive a special blessing — chaotic comedy often ensues.
Read More(ANALYSIS) When millions of users comment “Amen” beneath his posts, they are not consuming religious content. They are participating in religious practice itself. In that sense, prosperity preachers should not be seen as odd figures operating with premodern beliefs. Rather, they reveal what becomes possible when charismatic Christianity fully commits to the digital age.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Shortly before her “Para(site)dise” exhibition at the William King Museum of Art in Abingdon, Virginia, artist Jocelyn Mathewes used a pillowcase and 30 pieces of fabric to create a 7-by-9-foot floating sculpture called “The Bed (Horizontal Time).” This experience touches minds and souls, as well as bodies.
Read MoreAn Ohio worship leader was convicted of murdering his wife after prosecutors argued he staged a home invasion to conceal the killing. The motive? Pursuing a relationship with another worship leader from his church, the Christian Life Center in Dayton.
Read More(ANALYSIS) A visit by BAPS Hindu monks to the Eiffel Tower sparked a worker strike and broader debate over religious accommodation in public spaces. The controversy centers on brahmacharya, a Hindu discipline emphasizing control of the senses, which monks practice through strict celibacy and spiritual discipline.
Read MoreSt. Francis has inspired people for generations — and now, on the 800th anniversary of his death, he will inspire people once more, though a moving composition about his life.
Read MoreDale “Grey Beard” Sanders is a 91-year-old Baptist layman who last month set a record for the oldest through hiker of the Appalachian Trail – a record he had previously set at the age of 82 on a hike in 2017. It was a journey that began with prayer, and — 2,197 miles later — ended with prayer.
Read MoreFormer football star Tim Tebow’s announcement that he’s hitting the brakes on his relationship with Christian wealth-building seminar Life Surge is getting pushback from fans who say Tebow knew nothing of its controversies.
Read MoreOn this week’s podcast, W. Tyler Allen speaks about his book, which celebrates God’s ability to use the miraculous, the bizarre — and even the downright creepy to connect with his people.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The frescoes, located in the Bardi Chapel of Florence’s Basilica of Santa Croce, take up a major place in Christian art relative to their physical footprint. Giotto is routinely credited as the artist who broke decisively from the flat conventions of medieval painting and introduced something recognizably modern.
Read More(OPINION) It wasn’t just Thomas who doubted, apparently, but several of the apostles. It may have been that all of them doubted. They didn’t just doubt before they saw Jesus for themselves. They doubted after they saw him alive and up close. They doubted even as they saw him. They worshipped him — and they doubted. Both things. At the same time.
Read MoreA private Christian college in a historically red state isn’t usually a campaign stop for a Democratic candidate. But James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas, did just that, making it a priority to recently visit Baylor University, the largest Baptist university in the nation. Talarico’s Christian faith — combined with his progressive agenda — has made him an appealing candidate.
Read More(OPINION) A well-functioning democracy requires informed citizens. And informed citizens require independent, consistently reliable journalism. As a nation, we need to understand what the Framers understood: journalism is essential civic infrastructure.
Read MoreNational Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School, on track to become the first religious charter school in the nation, may proceed as it challenges in court an Oklahoma law blocking the school, a federal district judge ruled.
Read More(ANALYSIS) New religious movements often form around charismatic sources of authority offering new answers to enduring human questions. What makes AI historically unusual is that the charismatic figure no longer needs to stand on a stage. It no longer needs to establish a church or gather disciples around itself.
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